Episode 10

Guest: Stephanie Goldfarb

Chicago Cook Extraordinaire Part 2

It’s Part 2 with Stephanie Goldfarb and we cover lots of ground. You’ll hear about her day job working with amazing high school students, and lots more about food as we learn about Stephanie’s must haves in the kitchen, what it’s like to be in a cooking competition and the down-low about Israeli breakfasts and all the good food that Israel has to offer.

Episode 9

Guest: Stephanie Goldfarb

Stephanie Goldfarb: Chicago Cook Extraordinaire

Stephanie Goldfarb is a real Renaissance woman finding a way to mesh her passion for food and living a Jewish life in the most extraordinary way. She shares her path to Jewish cooking with me and talks about her wonderful supper club in Chicago, Seven Species. Her life is so jammed packed with Jewish and so many food hats you have to tune in and learn all about her.

Instructions

Take out however many sheets of matzo you might need. Stephanie typically use 2 sheets per person, but she likes to over-feed people.

Crumble up the matzo indiscriminately. You want some pretty large shards and some smaller pieces as well.

Run some extremely hot water in your faucet. Once it’s hot, drown the matzo for about 45 to 60 seconds, or until you feel it start to break down a bit. You don’t want it totally water-logged, but it should def be pretty soft.

Drain the matzo of all the liquid. Completely. Literally press down on the matzo to squeeze out any remaining water.

) Mix in one egg per sheet of matzo, along with a few pinches of salt.

Now your paths diverge, and it’s time to get creative.

For Sweet Matzo Brei

Heat up a few tablespoons of butter in a large skillet. Pour in the matzo and egg mixture over medium-high heat with a few dashes of cinnamon and a few squirts of honey. You can either scramble it up like you would scrambled eggs, or you can flatten the mixture out in the pan and cook it up in one big frittata-like disc (as shown below). Once everything is nice and browned, plate it up and pour on your toppings of choice!

For Savory Matzo Brie

Thinly slice a medium-sized onion. Heat up a few tablespoons of butter in a large skillet with a little oil as well. (Pro tip: mixing butter with oil prevents the butter from burning at a high heat.) Add the onions to the skillet and cook them for about 10 minutes, or until the onions get super caramelized and brown. Feel free to add in some fresh garlic or any other veggies you are into as well. You can also add some spices like garlic powder, dried herbs, chili powder, really anything your little heart desires. Just make sure you add a few big pinches of salt and black pepper.

Pour in the matzo and egg mixture over medium-high heat, and scramble it up just like you are making eggs. I know it is counter-intuitive to making scrambled eggs, but you really do want some brown and crispy bits here. Once everything is nice and browned, you can add some cheese to melt in, if you are into that. Enjoy!